Differences between continuous data were analysed by two-tailed unpaired Student's t-test.
Associations between categorical data were analysed by χ test.
Correlations between nonparametric data were analysed by the Spearman correlation test.
Significant differences between categorical data were analysed with Fisher's exact test or Pearson's chi-squared test where appropriate.
Differences between normally distributed data were analysed using Student's t test.
To determine a correlation between variables the data were analysed by scatter plot and by Pearson correlation analysis.
Error bars represent S.E.M. Statistical differences between two groups of data were analysed with a two-tailed unpaired Student's t-test.
Differences between two sets of data were analysed by two-tailed unpaired t-test, where significance levels were set as follows: * P≤0.05; ** P≤0.01; *** P≤0.001.
To determine significant differences between individual groups, the data were analysed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Student Newman Keuls test of multiple comparisons.
To determine statistical significance, relation between molecular and clinicopathologic data were analysed using χ test, or Fisher's exact test as appropriate.
